New Studies Bolster Arguments Of Runway Opponents

HOLLYWOOD — How many people are going to want to spend the day at John U. Lloyd Park with noisy airplanes flying overhead?

That was the question opponents of the proposed airport runway expansion posed during a news conference Thursday to discuss two newly released studies that supported their theories on the project's potentially harmful impact.

The $529 million project, which calls for extending the south runway at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, has been in the works for years and deemed necessary for the county to accommodate the area's projected growth.

Hollywood and Dania Beach -- cities that would be directly affected by the proposed expansion -- commissioned the $13,000 studies because they felt that the FAA hadn't done all of its homework.

"It's putting too much activity on such a small acreage," said Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti. "It's going to have a devastating impact on our park feature and beaches, which are extremely important."

City officials, neighboring residents and environmental activists are pushing for the project to be halted and restudied and hope the new studies will further delay an approval from the Broward County Commission, which will hold a public hearing Tuesday.

"We're asking the County Commission to step back and take a measured look at this issue," said Scott Marder, chairman of the Hollywood Airport Advisory Committee.

The FAA has overestimated the volume of airline passengers since the projections of air travel were drawn up before last year's terrorist attacks.

The expansion would have adverse impact on the immediate area's socio-economic status because property values would drop because of air and noise pollution.

Broward County is almost built out and would not see a significant increase in population.

County officials are running against time to make a decision. In August, the FAA said it would not approve or fund the project unless the county is fully committed to it.

"We know there are going to be problems, but I think mitigation will relieve the problems," said County Commissioner Ben Graber, who supports the project. He said Tuesday's hearing would likely be the last before the county decides whether to go forward with the runway expansion portion of the project.

FAA officials said they think the airline industry will recover from the economic downturn caused by Sept. 11.

"We view the post 9-11 downturn as temporary," said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen, who declined further comment on the opponents' analysis of the FAA's draft environmental study. She said their concerns would be addressed when the final environmental review is completed this fall.